Derby's regeneration: a continuous work in progress, says John Forkin.

John Forkin, director of Marketing Derby, talks about how Derby's regeneration story compares with those of Phnom Penh and Lincoln.

WHEN will Derby's regeneration be complete? This question is sometimes asked and my answer is simple. Never.

Cities, like companies, do not stand still. They are always developing or declining, getting better or getting worse. Regeneration is the process through which cities improve themselves and, over the past 2,000 years, Derby has had many phases of development, especially since the industrial revolution.

Our most recent chapter is easy to date. It began at 9.30am on October 9, 2007, when Westfield Derby opened the doors to its gleaming £340 million shopping centre, catapulting our city on to the radar of the investment world.

By my account, we are drawing close to achieving the stated goal, set out in the 2005 masterplan, of attracting £2 billion of investment.

Between 2007 and 2010 that regeneration was broadly private-sector driven, not just Westfield, but the various hotels, Riverlights complex and the like.

However, by 2010 the recession had caught up and private sector cash dried up.

Derby City Council then stepped in with projects such as the refurbished Council House, plus schemes funded through the regeneration and regional growth funds. And, in the world of investment, momentum is critical in sustaining confidence.

The fact that Derby managed to keep its regeneration flame alive, even through the darker post-Lehman days, provides a platform from which the city can take full advantage of the current economic pick-up.

And the pick-up is real. Last month, Derby sent a strong delegation out to MIPIM, the world commercial property fair, in Cannes.

More than 350 people attended our promotional events, heard our convincing story and a track record for delivery that clearly works.

In Cannes, Derby was rated as one of the top 25 investment prospects in Europe by an arm of the Financial Times, quite an accolade in a list headed by London.

The one-to-one meetings we held had a distinctly different tone, too. There was a real interest in tangible opportunities for investment and development on the ground.

Since returning to Derby, we have hosted visitors from Washington DC, London and Istanbul, all evidence that Derby is catching investors' attention in the recovery.

MIPIM is also a handy reminder that regeneration is a truly competitive business.

The investment pot is only so large and many cities in the UK and beyond are seeking to attract it.

I like to keep a keen eye on how places shape their regeneration and visits I made recently to very different cities, Lincoln and Phnom Penh, come to mind.

Lincoln has a heritage dating back to the Romans but its attraction as a tourist destination is very much the medieval, imperious cathedral on the top of Steep Hill.

Its strategy has been to diversify and key to this has been the creation of a new university in the heart of the city. Its regeneration impact has been phenomenal and the city's waterside campus of apartments and leisure facilities is a regeneration masterclass.

Phnom Penh is very different. A city emptied of all its people in 1975 by the genocidal dictator, Pol Pot, Cambodia has only been at peace since 2000.

Yet, today, a thriving city of 2 million people is urgently trying to knit modern, top-down infrastructure into an energetic, bottom-up regeneration, driven by boutique hotels, restaurants and a wider visitor economy offer. A city with rising skyscrapers, but without trains or buses.

Derby is seeking to retain the wealth its established hi-tech economy creates.

Lincoln is trying to create wealth by diversifying its visitor economy.

Phnom Penh is creating a visitor and service economy from a very low baseline.

Each city has its unique regeneration story, the key is to define it and convince investors of its worth, as Derby has done and continues to do.